16 people have died from possible Listeria illnesses traced to Colorado cantaloupes, the deadliest food outbreak in more than 10 years, according to health officials.
72 Listeria illnesses, including 13 deaths, are linked to the tainted fruit, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday. State and local authorities say they are investigating three additional deaths that may be connected to Listeria outbreak.
The Listeria outbreak death toll released by the CDC Tuesday – including newly confirmed deaths in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas – surpassed the number of deaths linked to an outbreak of Salmonella in peanuts almost three years ago. Nine people died in that outbreak.
The CDC has confirmed two deaths in Texas and one death each in in Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.
Last week the CDC reported two deaths in Colorado, four deaths in New Mexico, one in Oklahoma and one in Maryland.
New Mexico authorities said yesterday they are investigating a fifth death, while health officials in Kansas and Wyoming said they too are investigating additional deaths possibly linked to the tainted fruit.
Listeria is more deadly than well-known pathogens like Salmonella and E. coli, though those outbreaks generally cause many more illnesses.
The recalled cantaloupe involved in Listeria outbreak may be labeled Colorado Grown, Distributed by Frontera Produce, Jensenfarms.com or Sweet Rocky Fords
21 people died in an outbreak of Listeria poisoning in 1998 traced to contaminated hot dogs and possibly deli meats made by Bil Mar Foods, a subsidiary of Sara Lee Corp, the Associated Press reports.
Another large Listeria outbreak in 1985 killed 52 people and was linked to Mexican-style soft cheese.
Listeria generally only affects the elderly, pregnant women and others with compromised immune systems.
The CDC said the median age of those sickened is 78 and that one in five who contract the disease can die.
Dr. Robert Tauxe of the CDC says the number of illnesses and deaths will probably grow in coming weeks because the symptoms of listeria don’t always show up right away.
It could take four weeks or more for a person to fall ill after eating food contaminated with Listeria.
“That long incubation period is a real problem,” Dr. Robert Tauxe said.
“People who ate a contaminated food two weeks ago or even a week ago could still be falling sick weeks later.”
CDC reported the 72 Listeria illnesses and deaths in 18 states.
Cases of Listeria infection were reported in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
The most illnesses were reported in Colorado, which has seen 15 sickened. 14 illnesses were reported in Texas, 10 in New Mexico and eight in Oklahoma.
Listeria outbreak has been traced to Jensen Farms in Holly, Colorado, which recalled the tainted cantaloupes earlier this month.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said state health officials had found Listeria in cantaloupes taken from grocery stores in the state and from a victim’s home that were grown at Jensen Farms.
Matching strains of the disease were found on equipment and cantaloupe samples at Jensen Farms’ packing facility in Granada, Colorado.
FDA, which investigates the cause of foodborne outbreaks, has not released any additional details on how the contamination may have happened, but says its investigation is ongoing.
Last night it appeared that Nancy Grace suffered an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction at Dancing With The Stars show, when her dress slipped down mid way through her energetic quickstep with Tristan, revealing a little too much of her chest area.
But being the good prosecutor that she is, today Nancy Grace has played down the incident, providing evidence that her modesty was kept safe by some trusty “breast petals”.
The legal broadcaster insists that she didn’t fully expose herself and it was the sticky nipple cover-ups that she was wearing, which protected her chest area.
Nancy Grace apparently experienced a wardrobe malfunction following her quickstep on last night's DWTS show
Nancy Grace, 51, tweeted a picture of herself holding the box of trusty stick-ons on her Twitter page.
“Evidence re my alleged <<wardrobe malfunction>> which I vehemently deny: Breast Petals & industrial strength bra,” she wrote in an accompanying caption.
Nancy Grace denies a “wardrobe malfunction” on Dancing With The Stars last night and tweeted a picture of her holding a box of breast petals to prove it
Nancy Grace also told RadarOnline that the wardrobe department of Dancing With The Stars show were always fully prepared for accidents waiting to happen.
“I am in full nip denial,” Nancy told told the website.
“Breast petals and an industrial strength bra…plus a sewn-in corset. The fabulous DWTS wardrobe crew is extremely proactive and would never let an accident happen!”
Nancy Grace also made light of the situation and joked about what she would be wearing in the next round of the contest.
“I’m a considering a turtle neck for my next dance!” she told the website.
Nancy’s dance partner Tristan MacManus says that he was completely unaware of the malfunction.
“I didn’t even notice, and I was closer to it than anyone,” Tristan MacManus told the RadarOnline.
“Apparently the top of her dress slipped down, but the producers were really quick to amend it.”
Nancy Grace was being dipped by partner Tristan, when a mishap occurred, leading to ABC to cut away to an audience shot.
Nancy Grace's dress first slipped down during a dip move with her partner Tristan MacManus on last night's DWTS show
“On the European version that would be perfectly fine,” joked host Tom Bergeron, while judge Bruno Tonioli told Nancy that her performance was “a bit top heavy at times.”
Unfortunately, Nancy’s clingy brown dress then slipped down again, as she and Tristan waited for the judges verdict.
Nancy Grace was quick to deny there had been a costume slip.
“Tonight, when we were doing our hopscotch portion of our dance, there was a little bit of movement but it did not rise to a wardrobe malfunction,” she told US Weekly after the show.
“We have taken every precaution known to men in this dress right here,” Nancy Grace added.
“I’m talking industrial size precaution. There may have been, as Tristan said, a little bit of jiggling but there was absolutely not a wardrobe malfunction.”
However, Nancy Grace did get an impressive score of eight for her dance from Len Goodman who said her performance was a “breath of fresh air”.
The Michael Jackson’s death trial opened with an extraordinary moment this afternoon as the prosecutor started his opening remarks by displaying a photo of the singer’s dead body.
As Dr. Conrad Murray appeared before the jury charged with involuntary manslaughter over Michael Jackson’s death in 2009, deputy district attorney David Walgren displayed the picture that appeared to show tape or tubing over Jackson’s face.
Opposing fans of Michael Jackson and supporters of Dr. Conrad Murray gathered outside the courthouse in Los Angeles waving placards and banners as the whole Jackson family made their way into court for what has been billed as the trial of the century.
The shocking photo of Michael Jackson's dead body on a gurney on the opening day of the trial of Dr Conrad Murray
“Michael Jackson’s death was a homicide,” Los Angeles deputy district attorney David Walgren told the jury in opening statements.
“The evidence will show that Michael Jackson literally put his life in the hands of Conrad Murray… Michael Jackson trusted his life to the medical skills of Conrad Murray.
“The evidence will show that misplaced trust had far too high a price to pay… it cost Michael Jackson his life.”
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Dr. Conrad Murray’s defense attorney Ed Chernoff told the jury that Michael Jackson caused his own death.
Dr. Conrad Murray wiped tears from his eyes as Ed Chernoff said that the evidence will show that the singer swallowed 8, 2 mg pills of Lorazepam and injected himself with a dose of propofol.
Ed Chernoff said that Michael Jackson, who was frustrated because he could not sleep and frustrated because his doctor refused to give him a drug that he wanted, “did an act that caused his own death”.
“He died so fast he did not even have time to close his eyes,” Ed Chernoff said.
He also told jurors their job is not to determine whether the physician is a good doctor or not.
The bed where Michael Jackson died in his home in California
Michael Jackson’s parents, his siblings Janet, La Toya, Tito, Randy and Jermaine are all at the courthouse in LA for the opening statements in the trial of the singer’s personal physician, who was the last person to see him alive.
District deputy attorney David Walgren insisted that the evidence will show that the “acts and omissions of Michael Jackson’s personal doctor Conrad Murray directly led to his premature death at the age of 50”.
Dr. Conrad Murray “repeatedly acted with gross negilience, repeatedly denied appropriate care to his patient Michael Jackson and that is was Dr Murray’s repeated incompetent and unskilled acts that led to Michael Jackson’s death on June 25 2009,” attorney Walgren said.
David Walgren played disturbing audio recorded on Dr. Conrad Murray’s iPhone of Michael Jackson apparently under the influence of propofol a month before his death.
On the recording, Michael Jackson sounded slurred and confused as he mumbled: “We have to be phenomenal… When people leave this show, when people leave my show, I want them to say, <<I’ve never seen nothing like this in my life. Go. Go.>>”
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The prosecutor said the audio was evidence that Dr. Murray knew what was happening to Michael Jackson and should have discontinued ordering propofol.
He also attempted to paint a picture of the days leading up to the singer’s death.
“On June 19th Michael showed up for his rehearsal and he was not in good shape, he was not in good shape at all,” David Walgren said.
“He had chills, he was trembling… he was rambling.”
The court was shown pictures from inside Michael Jackson's home, here is the bathroom with his jacket on the floor
Kenny Ortega, Michael Jackson’s manager, who proposed This Is It tour, expressed concerns about Michael, but Dr. Conrad Murray allegedly told him and others that Jackson was “physically and emotionally fine”.
“Don’t let it be your concern, I am the doctor,” Dr. Conrad Murray allegedly said.
David Walgren also laid out the order of events from inside Michael Jackson’s house on the night that he died.
The prosecutor accused Dr. Conrad Murray of failing to call 911 as soon as he realized that there was something wrong with Michael Jackson.
An emergency call was not made until 12:20pm, at least 24 minutes after Dr. Murray is believed to have discovered Michael Jackson unconscious.
During a phone call at 11:51am with a cocktail waitress that Conrad Murray regarding as his girlfriend, the doctor became silent and the phone went dead, prosecutor said.
“This is likely the time Conrad Murray first noticed Michael Jackson’s lifeless body,” David Walgren said.
He claimed that phone records showed that Michael Jackson was left unattended for too long.
“It will be clear that Conrad Murray abandoned Michael when he needed help.”
“It was Conrad Murray’s gross negligence, it was Conrad Murray’s unskilled hands and his desire to obtain this lucrative contract of $150,000 a month that led Dr. Murray to not only abandon his patient, but to abandon all principles of medical care.”
Prosecutor Walgren also showed images of Michael Jackson’s bedroom to show how medical monitoring devices typically used when someone is under anesthesia were not there or appeared unused.
A blood pressure cuff was still in a box and an oxygen tank had no oxygen.
As the defense made their opening statements, Murray wiped away tears as lawyer Ed Chernoff described the doctor and Michael Jackson as “friends first”.
“Dr. Murray is no celebrity doctor. He is a cardiologist. He literally saves lives. That’s who he is.”
Ed Chernoff said that on the day he died, Michael Jackson had told Dr. Murray that he not slept for 10 hours and that if he did not sleep he would not be able to rehearse and would disappoint his fans.
Dr. Conrad Murray agreed to give him a 25 mg injection of propofol mixed with lidocaine.
Ed Chernoff claimed that Michael Jackson had become unable to sleep because he was being withdrawn from the painkiller Demerol, which he had been receiving from his dermatologist.
Demonstrators for and against Dr Conrad Murray
In his opening statement, prosecutor David Walgren told the jury that between 6 April, 2009, and the day of Michael Jackson’s death on June 25, Dr. Murray ordered enough propofol to give Jackson 1,937 milligrams a day.
Defense lawyers claimed Dr. Conrad Murray had been trying to wean Michael Jackson off propofol and gave him only a minimal dosage.
The lawyers claimed also that the King of Pop, desperate for sleep, swallowed an additional dose of the drug when his doctor was out of the room.
The defense’s theory is based on evidence that a trace amount of propofol was found in Michael Jackson’s stomach.
Medical witnesses may be asked to explain how it could have been found in his stomach, as ingesting it orally is almost unheard of.
Propofol is used to reduce anxiety and tension, and promotes relaxation and sleep or loss of consciousness. The drug provides loss of awareness for short diagnostic tests and surgical procedures, sleep at the beginning of surgery, and supplements other types of general anaesthetics. Long-term use of propofol can result in addiction. The steep dose-response curve of the drug makes potential misuse very dangerous without proper monitoring.
Side effects of propofol include: difficulty breathing, wheezing, fast heartbeat, palpitations, seizures, uncontrollable muscle spasm and swelling or extreme pain at the injection site.
At 12.12 pm Dr. Murray called Michael Jackson’s personal assistant Michael Williams and left a message saying: “Call me right away, please. Please call me right away. Thank you.”
When Williams immediately called Dr. Murray back he told him: “Get here right away Mr. Jackson had a bad reaction, he had a bad reaction”, according to prosecutors.
Dr. Murray had yet to call 911 at this point.
Michael Williams then called security guard Albert Alvarez to go and investigate and he said that when he entered Michael Jackson’s room, he was lying on the bed and Dr. Murray was administering CPR.
According to the prosecution, Conrad Murray then ordered the security guard to grab a bag while he started grabbing vials and a saline bag hanging from the IV stand to put inside the bag.
That bag was later found inside Michael Jackson’s home.
Michael Jackson supporters holding signs outside Los Angeles Superior Court
Prosecutors also say Murray ordered someone to clean up signs that Michael Jackson had been receiving a variety of medications, including propofol, and that he improperly monitored the singer’s vital signs, performed inadequate CPR and did not inform emergency medical personnel that he had given the musician propofol.
A recorded conversation that Dr. Conrad Murray had two days after Michael Jackson’s death was played where Murray can be heard saying that he gave his patient a small dose of propofol and then left him for 15 minutes to go to the bathroom.
“Then I came back to his bedside and was shocked because he wasn’t breathing,” the physician says in the audio recorded on June 27. Prosecutors allege that he was gone for a lot longer.
At 12.30 pm, paramedics arrived at Michael Jackson’s home and treated him for 42 minutes before transporting him to nearby Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
The ambulance arrived at hospital at 1.14 pm and a team of doctors tried for more than an hour to resuscitate the singer.
Michael Jackson was declared dead at 2.26 pm with members of his family by his side.
Millions of people around the world are expected to watch as the trial gives a glimpse into final days of Michael Jackson.
Crowds of people gathered at the Los Angeles Superior Court where there was a lottery drawn for seats for the opening statements.
Supporters of both Dr. Conrad Murray, 57, and Michael Jackson are outside the courthouse with signs including, “Fair trial for Dr Murray” and “Doctors are expected to heal not kill”.
The list of potential witnesses includes his eldest children Prince Michael and Paris, who have reportedly said that they want to take to the stand to testify.
Medical examiners have determined Michael Jackson’s death at the age of 50 on June 25 2009, at his rented Los Angeles mansion was due to an overdose of the powerful anaesthetic propofol and sedatives.
Prosecutors said Dr. Conrad Murray caused Michael Jackson’s death by giving him propofol as a sleep aid, and failing to monitor him properly.
Dr. Conrad Murray denies the charge of involuntary manslaughter but faces a prison sentence of up to four years if convicted.
Murray’s defense team is expected to argue that Michael Jackson was addicted to various painkillers and sedatives and gave himself the fatal dose of propofol, possibly by swallowing it.
The trial is expected to hear testimony from the paramedics who transported Michael Jackson to the hospital, medical experts, Jackson’s choreographer and Dr. Murray’s girlfriends.
Celebrity attorney Mark Geragos, who once represented Michael Jackson and has closely watched the criminal case against Dr. Conrad Murray, said that Jackson’s 13-year-old daughter Paris might also be called to testify, in what would likely be one of the most dramatic moments of the trial.
“She not only has things to say, but she can say it in a compelling way,” Mark Geragos said. Paris Jackson was at the house when the singer stopped breathing.
Michael Jackson’s children, Prince Michael, 14, and Paris, 13, have both reportedly told their grandmother Katherine of their desire to want to testify.
Prince Michael, Paris and Blanket were all included on a potential witness list passed out to the jurors in an attempt to ascertain their familiarity with the family.
Also listed were Michael Jackson’ siblings Janet, LaToya, Jermaine, Marlon, Rebbie, Tito and Randy as well as parents Katherine and Joe Jackson.
The Michael Jackson case is one of a small but growing number of U.S. criminal prosecutions of doctors for alleged malpractice.
The responses of the 12-person jury to written questionnaires made public last week shows that none of them reported having a negative experience with doctors.
At the time of his death, Michael Jackson was readying himself for 50 planned shows in London called “This Is It.”
Campaigners disagreed with the report concerning terminal cancer patient treatment strategy, especially the exclusion of the drugs that were expected to prolong life for terminal cancer patient.
A report on managing cancer costs, made by 37 cancer experts from developed countries, was published in the Lancet Oncology on September 26 . The study highlights the need of a judicious medication for terminal cancer patient. Professor Richard Sullivan has presented the study at the European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress in Stockholm. Terminal cancer therapy is “futile and potentially inconsistent with patients’ wishes’“, according to the study.
Much of terminal cancer therapy is "futile and potentially inconsistent with patients’ wishes", cancer experts say in Lancet Oncology.
“I would hardly call this type of treatment futile. We have kidney cancer patients on a life-prolonging drug called Sutent who have been told they have only two to three weeks to live but who go on to live for a further five years,” said Rose Woodward, of the James Whale Fund for Kidney Cancer.
“Describing all treatments near the end of life as futile is tantamount to writing patients off. Just because they cannot be “cured” does not mean that we cannot give them valuable treatment, care and support,” said a spokesman for the Rarer Cancers Foundation.
“While cancer care can be expensive, it is unjust to put a cost on the lives of patients, especially when modern treatments can often give them precious time with their loved ones and increase their length and quality of life,” said Ian Beaumont of Bowel Cancer UK.
Some life-extending drugs has shown increased positive results for certain terminal cancer patients.
Abiraterone, for prostate cancer, was approved in the UK at a cost of £35,000 a patient last week. On average it only extends lives by a few weeks, but some patients survive for five years.
Avastin, for advanced bowel cancer, was initially thought to extend survival by an average of only six weeks. Some patients are still alive five years later and with no tumors relapse.
Daily Mail presented the case of Barbara Moss who was given several months to live when she was diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer that had metastasized to her liver in November 2006. She paid for Avastin privately and the drug shrank the tumors and they were small enough to be removed by surgery and she has lived an extra five years.
Zelboraf, a targeted medicine for inoperable or metastatic melanoma BRAF V600E mutation-positive, has shown it increased survival rate of the patients and was approved by FDA last month.
Adcetris, the first drug approved by the FDA for Hodgkin lymphoma in more than 30 years, an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) directed to CD30, has demonstrated a high durable complete remission rate in CD30-positive malignancies.
Some life-extending drugs has shown increased positive results for certain terminal cancer patients.
Other medicines are still in a trial stage, but some of them are very promising even for terminal cancer.
Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania have genetically engineered patients’ T cells to attack cancer cells in advanced cases of a common type of leukemia. Two of three patients studied have been cancer-free for more than one year. In the third case over 70% of cancer cells were removed.
Researchers from Lund University have identified a method that may attack and destroy prostate cancer stem cells and might lead to a complete cure.
Recently presented data have shown Zybrestat, a pro-drug vascular disrupting agent, helped improve the one-year survival rate of patients with larger anaplastic thyroid cancer tumors.
Specialists at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital have tested radium-223 chloride (a powerful alpha radiation drug for prostate cancer) on 461 patients while another group of the same number was being treated with placebo. The group taking the new drug experienced less pain, side effects and lived longer, and the doctors decided to stop the trial and started treating all 922 patients taking part in the study because they said it would be unethical not to.
Giving a terminal cancer patient false hope is unethically, but in the same time to refuse a potentially helpful treatment to a terminal cancer patient is unethically too. This is not a recent debate, unfortunately health services and terminal cancer still need adjustments, but these can be done by trying and studying.
Demi Moore was never been large, but last night she looked a shadow of her former self as she attended the Lifetime movie Five premiere in New York.
Demi Moore donned a black geometric print dress which highlighted her incredibly slender frame as she posed on the blue carpet for the event.
The fitted black dress hung off her once feminine curves, while the short-sleeved look drew attention to Demi Moore‘s incredibly muscular arms.
Demi Moore looked a shadow of her former self at the premiere of Lifetime movie Five in New York last night
Demi Moore in 2009The 48-year-old actress’ appearance at the event comes as nutritionist Dr. Majid Ali told gossip website Radaronline.com that he believes Demi Moore has been spending “too much time in the gym and too little time at the dinner table”.
Dr. Majid Ali added he believes Demi Moore’ slender look is down to overdoing it in the gym rather than cutting down on what she eats.
“It looks more like over training with restricted calories, than an eating disorder.
“She doesn’t have that wasted loss of muscle eating disorder look, but she could be over training. I certainly wouldn’t want her any thinner.”
Dr. Majid Ali’s comments come in the wake of Demi Moore admitting she used to be “obsessed” with the way her body looked.
The mother-of –three actress said: “I had an extreme obsession with my body. I made it a measure of my own value.
“I tried to dominate it, which I did, and I changed it multiple times over.
“But it never lasted and ultimately it didn’t bring me anything but temporary happiness. Does being thin resolve anything? No.
“The irony is that when I abandoned that desire to dominate my body, it actually became the body that I always wanted.”
Demi Moore has been working hard on her health in recent months, and revealed earlier this year she had undertaken a strict detox plan with her husband Ashton Kutcher.
Demi Moore, 48, and Ashton Kutcher, 32, followed the Master Cleanse diet, which involves consuming only a concoction of water, lemon, maple syrup and cayenne pepper for ten days.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Beyonce Knowles, who are fans of the detox plan, claim it eliminates toxins from the body and helps stop cravings.
However, critics say the detox plan may be bad for your health and deprives the body of energy, providing 600 calories daily – a third of the recommended amount.
Demi Moore was joined at last night’s premiere by stars including Jennifer Aniston.
Demi Moore posed up with her friend Jennifer Aniston, who also directed a segment of their new Lifetime movie Five
Demi Moore and Jennifer Aniston are just two of the names who have directed anthologies included in Lifetime movie Five, exploring the impact of breast cancer on people’s lives.
Amanda Knox, the convicted killer of Meredith Kercher, is actually a “loving young woman” rather like the cartoon character Jessica Rabbit, a defense lawyer claimed today.
Just a day after another lawyer told her appeal hearing in Italy that Amanda Knox was a “a lying, sex-loving she-devil”, lawyer Giulia Bongiorno said Amanda Knox, the American student found guilty of killing British roommate Meredith Kercher, was not a bad person.
The lawyer said Amanda Knox was not the “femme fatale” her accusers describe and compared her to Jessica Rabbit, saying she was faithful like the “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” character.
Amanda Knox, the convicted killer of Meredith Kercher, is actually a “loving young woman” rather like the cartoon character Jessica Rabbit, a defense lawyer claimed today
Amanda Knox was convicted of murdering Meredith Kercher, a fellow student in Perugia, and sentenced to 26 years in prison, while co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years.
Giulia Bongiorno, Raffaele Sollecito’s lawyer, paraphrased a famous line from the movie saying Amanda Knox “is not bad, she’s just drawn that way”.
Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito deny killing Meredith Kercher and the verdict in the appeals case is expected by next week.
Giulia Bongiorno, Raffaele Sollecito's lawyer, paraphrased a famous line from the movie saying Amanda Knox “is not bad, she's just drawn that way”
A female supporter of Amanda Knox has been questioned by police after she shouted “You are evil” at one of the main prosecutors in the appeal case of the American student.
Michelle Moore sought out prosecutor Giuliano Mignini during a break in proceedings in the case, which is nearing its conclusion and with tension beginning to rise significantly.
Witnesses said Michelle Moore marched over to the prosecutor during a break in the long running proceedings and shouted to him:
“You are evil, you have no conscience,” while others said she told him: “You have no heart.”
Giuliano Mignini asked paramilitary carabinieri police to identify the woman and she was asked to show her American passport and provide her details to officers before being taken away but she was not arrested.
Co-accused Raffaelle Sollecito also denies murdering Meredith Kercher
In the same day, a lawyer for bar owner Patrick Lumumba, wrongly identified by Amanda Knox as the killer had described her as a “diabolical, demonic, Satanic, she Devil”.
Michelle Moore, the wife of a former FBI agent called Steve Moore, who has been one of the most vociferous pro Amanda Knox campaigners in the court – was giving interviews dismissing the original Italian police investigation into the murder.
Today Michelle Moore was not in the court in Perugia as the case resumed with lawyers for Amanda Knox’s coaccused Raffaele Sollecito starting their summing up, but her husband said:
“She didn’t mean to show any disrespect to the court.”
Steve Moore then added that his wife had made the outburst because she was angry at graphic pictures of Meredith Kercher’s mutilated body during an earlier hearing.
British Meredith Kercher was a student in Perugia, Italy when she was killed on on November 1, 2007
Steve Moore said: “We have a daughter the same age and someone tried to strangle my wife when she was 20 so it was a reaction to all that, she was just shocked.
“She thought it was Mignini who had showed the photographs – she just got a bit emotional.”
But one witness who asked not to be named said: “That sounds a bit far fetched to me. She has been in court the last few days and would know who Mignini was and who Maresca was.
“It was a very strong attack on Mignini and he was left quite shocked. He only understood the word evil and had to get the rest translated for him and that’s when he asked the police to take the woman’s details.”
A file on the case will now be sent to prosecutors who will decide if there is enough evidence to proceed to a full charge of offending an official of the court which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
Italian TV used the incident to highlight the growing tensions between the pro Amanda Knox camp but today they were not immediately available to comment on the incident.
Michelle Moore was also not in court and she did not update her Twitter page with the incident although last week she had written: “Amanda and Raffaele will soon be free. I am very happy about this injustice being made right. Yay. PS Pass it on.”
Michelle Moore Twitter description reads: “Loves God, loves people ! Seeks truth, and never ever gives up-ever never! :)”
A report on managing cancer costs, made by 37 cancer experts (economists, patient advocates and physicians) from developed countries (U.S., UK, Germany, Australia), was published in the Lancet Oncology on September 26 . The study highlights the need of a judicious medication for terminal cancer patient.
Professor Richard Sullivan, of the King’s Health Partners Integrated Cancer Centre, London, has presented the study at the European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress in Stockholm.
Input from drug-makers, payers and educators will be key to future discussions, David Collingridge, the journal’s editor, said.
“With an aging global population and an endless conveyor belt of expensive new drugs and technologies and increasing financial pressures, the cost of cancer care in high-income countries is becoming unsustainable,” The Lancet Oncology said.
Developed countries have varying levels of GDP assigned to health, but the percent of cancer care cost is between four and seven in the majority of countries.
Around 12 million people worldwide are diagnosed with cancer annually, the costs of the new cases was at least $286 billion in 2009, according to the report. By 2030, about 22 million people will be diagnosed with the disease annually. More than half of the $286 billion in costs was related to treatment, while a quarter was linked to lost productivity.
"We over-diagnose, over-treat, and over-promise. This extends from use of complex technology, surgery, and drugs to events related to the acceptance of treatment side-effects." say experts, making a special reference to terminal cancer.
In UK around 310,000 people are diagnosed with cancer every year and by 2030 this is expected to have risen to 400,000. The National Health Service spends over £5billion annually on cancer treatments, up from £3billion in 2002.
“All health systems face budget limitations, while at the same time the cancer burden and expenditures are increasing steeply. Every cancer patient, now and in the future, must have fair access to quality cancer care and to innovation. This can only be safeguarded by transparent and evidence-based analysis and policy development,” said Professor Michael Baumann , president of the European cancer organization, ECCO.
The cancer experts have criticized a “culture of excess” that gives false hopes to patients with terminal cancer.
“In developed countries, cancer treatment is becoming a culture of excess. We over-diagnose, over-treat, and over-promise. This extends from use of complex technology, surgery, and drugs to events related to the acceptance of treatment side-effects.” the cancer experts said.
They emphasized the importance of choosing a right treatment strategy for terminal cancer patients. The life-extending medication should not be use as it shows no benefits for terminal cancer, and has dangerous side-effects.
The life-extending medication should not be use as it shows no benefits for terminal cancer, and has dangerous side-effects, said the cancer experts.
“Special consideration must be given to costs of cancer care at the end of life. Many forms of cancer are currently incurable and patients will eventually die from their disease.”
“In fact studies suggest that a substantial portion of the total cost of cancer care is for care delivered in the last weeks or days of life, and that much of this care is futile and potentially inconsistent with patients’ wishes.”
“If we could accurately predict when further disease-directed therapy would be futile, we clearly would want to spare the patient the toxicity and false hope associated with such treatment, as well as the expense.”
The scientists said a more rigorous evaluation of the relative benefits of surgery to treat cancer and of the less invasive robotic surgery had to be done.
Reducing the cost of cancer services or reducing the number of people using them, especially terminal cancer patients, are the two ways the authors proposed to solve the problem.
The best cancer treatments would be the preserve of the rich because they would be too expensive for the Health Service, warned last week Professor Karol Sikora, one of the 37 cancer experts.
Molecular bio-markers could be used to pre-screen patients for treatments and imaging methods should be used to select only those patients who could benefit from a treatment. Early-stage studies could also help to remove marginally effective or ineffective drugs faster, researchers said.
“We are at a crossroads for affordable cancer care, where our choices, or refusal to make choices, will affect the lives of millions of people. Making individual patients more sensitive to the costs of care is necessary for an informed public debate around this critical issue,” Professor Richard Sullivan said.
MRI performed prior to surgery predicts the follow-up treatment for advanced rectal cancer, recent study shows. Generally the doctors will not abandon drugs for terminal cancer patients, despite the costs.
Cancer diagnosis and treatment has became more complex, with imaging, surgery, radiation and drug therapy. Specialists need to come together and discuss with patients, insurers and industry players the best ways to lower costs without compromising care, they said.
Amanda Knox, the convicted murderer of British student Meredith Kercher, was yesterday described in court as a “diabolical, Satanic, demonic she-devil”.
The assault on 24-year-old Amanda Knox’s character came from a lawyer representing the man that she initially accused of Meredith Kercher’s murder.
Amanda Knox, who was jailed for 26 years in December 2009, is challenging her conviction and the attack on her character was part of the prosecution’s summing up at her appeal.
Amanda Knox is “diabolical”, said a lawyer during the appeal trial of the American convicted murderer
In November 2007, Meredith Kercher, from South London, was found semi-naked and with her throat cut in the house in Perugia she shared with Amanda Knox.
American Amanda Knox and her Italian boyfriend at the time, Raffaele Sollecito -who was given 25 years – insist they are innocent.
In November 2007, Meredith Kercher, from South London, was found semi-naked and with her throat cut in the house in Perugia she shared with Amanda Knox
Initially Amanda Knox blamed the murder on bar owner Patrick Lumumba, 39, who was arrested in front of his wife and baby. She had accused him following a night of police questioning.
Amanda Knox told police that she “remembered Patrick killing Meredith” and that she had stayed in the kitchen covering her “ears to drown out the screams”.
Congolese-born Patrick Lumumba, who remained in custody for two weeks, is entitled to sue Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for slander under Italian law because her statement landed him in jail.
Initially Amanda Knox blamed the murder on bar owner Patrick Lumumba, 39, who was arrested in front of his wife and baby
Lulumba’s lawyer Carlo Pacelli launched a furious tirade against Amanda Knox.
“She falsely blamed Lumumba when she knew he was innocent,” the lawyer said.
“She put him in jail for two weeks away from his loved ones and family.
“After poor Meredith the second victim in all this is Patrick Lumumba – Amanda destroyed him as a man, husband, father. She muddied his character.”
Carlo Pacelli then told the court that Amanda Knox appeared to be charming, intelligent, and “angel faced because she has spent four years in jail”.
The lawyer added: “She is the daughter everyone wants, so you need to know what she was like four years ago.
“She was a diabolical, Satanic, demonic she-devil. She was muddy on the outside and dirty on the inside. She has two souls, the clean one – you see her before you – and the other.
“She is borderline. She likes alcohol, drugs and she likes hot, wild sex.”
Amanda Knox’s father, Curt and stepfather Chris Mellas shook their heads as Carlo Pacelli’s description was translated for them while Amanda Knox herself looked intently at the judge and jury.
After the hearing Curt Knox said:
“It was so over the top of what I believe would be necessary as a lawyer, he just assaulted her verbally and that’s wrong, flat wrong.”
Earlier Carlo Pacelli had described to the court how Meredith Kercher’s British friends had told the original trial that there had been tension between the two women because of Amanda Knox’s failure to keep the bathroom clean.
The lawyer recalled how Meredith Kercher had told friends she felt “uncomfortable” at the fact Amanda Knox brought strangers back to the house they shared and that she left a sex toy and condoms visible in the bathroom.
At one point judge Claudio Pratillo Hellman asked lawyer to stop going over old ground but Carlo Pacelli insisted he had to go into the details to “describe Amanda’s character”.
Amanda Knox has insisted that she and Meredith Kercher were friends.
Amanda Knox and Raffaelle Sollecito have based their appeal on an independent court report that has cast doubt on the original police forensic evidence.
Raffaelle Sollecito and Amanda Knox have based their appeal on an independent court report that has cast doubt on the original police forensic evidence
Meredith Kercher from Coulsdon, Surrey, was in Perugia as part of her Leeds University course and had only been in Italy for two months before she died.
A third defendant, drug dealer Rudy Guede, an immigrant from the Ivory Coast, is serving 16 years for murder and sexual violence.
The court is expected to retire this week and a verdict is expected early next month.
Sly Stone, the veteran funk singer is currently homeless, and living in a van in Los Angeles’ rough-and-tumble Crenshaw district, according to a report co-written by Stone documentarian William Alkema for the New York Post.
Sly Stone, 68, parks the van in a residential street in the notoriously rough Los Angeles neighborhood of Crenshaw, where a retired couple provides him with a warm meal each day and use of a shower.
Sly Stone, born Sylvester Stewart, is the former Sly & the Family Stone frontman, known for such hits in the late ’60s and early ’70s as “Dance to the Music,” “Everyday People” and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”.
Sly Stone, the funk legend is currently homeless and living in a van.
During the height of his career, Sly Stone, the eccentric funk legend owned a sprawling Los Angeles mansion in Beverly Hills, and just four years ago he moved into a Napa Valley “compound,” complete with a vineyard.
But now Sly Stone is suffering with financial problems and he is living out of his white van.
Sly Stone told the New York Post:
“I like my small camper. I just do not want to return to a fixed home. I cannot stand being in one place. I must keep moving.”
In recent years, a drug habit (Sly Stone has been arrested multiple times for cocaine possession) and fiscal difficulties (last year he sued his former manager, Jerry Goldstein, for $50 million, claiming that Goldstein had defrauded him) led Sly Stone into his current situation. Not that he appears to mind.
Sly Stone is hoping that today’s hit-makers will reach out and help him stage a comeback
Despite it all, Sly Stone is still recording music, on a laptop computer in his van – and with reportedly hundreds of songs currently in the can, the musician is hoping that today’s hit-makers will reach out and help him stage a comeback.
“I see all the guys playing those old songs,” Sly Stone says.
“Let these guys know, like Lady Gaga, let me come in, just let me come in and pay me if you like it.”
It might be a while before Sly Stone gets another crack at the stage. His live performances have been exceedingly rare over the past two decades, and when he has taken the stage, the results have tended toward the shambolic – such as his brief, bizarre appearance at last year’s Coachella Music and Arts Festival.
A video, which has been released yesterday by the National Park Service, shows the panicked scenes at the top floor of the Washington Monument when the quake hit on August 23.
Three security camera videos footages were taken 500 feet (150 meters) up and show how the US East Coast earthquake terrorized the tourists and shook pieces of the monument down from the top floor of the structure.
The panicked families could be seen scooping up their children and running down the stairs.
Security camera video showing tourists scrambling to reach the lower floors as the Washington Monument starts to shake wildly
The security camera videos at Washington Monument during the quake showed that stairs are narrow and it was a single exit only.
The 5.8-magnitude earthquake on August 23 was centered 84 miles south west of D.C. in the town of Mineral, Virginia.
Due to the damages following the US East Coast earthquake, the Washington Monument will be close indefinitely to visitors while repair crews get to work, NBC Washington reports.
Four stones near the top of the 555-foot monument were cracked in the earthquake.
Washington Monument, which was affected by the earthquake and Hurricane Irene, will be close indefinitely to visitors while repair crews get to work
Few days after the earthquake hit, Hurricane Irene punished Washington Monument further with strong winds and extremely heavy rain.
That produced some flooding inside and caused more cracks.
The video captured at Washington Monument during the earthquake lasts one minute and 55 seconds and the shaking continues from start to finish.
The video shows that the National Park ranger sitting at the top suddenly bolted before the tourists. But the agency clarified her actions.
Agency said she followed protocol by guiding visitors to the emergency exit door on the 490 level, which opens inward, and then returned to the 500 level of Washington Monument to ensure that all visitors were out.
Amos Richards, a hiker inspired by the film “127 Hours” nearly ended up in his own disaster movie after breaking his leg whilst walking in the same canyon where the drama took place.
Amos Richards, 64, from Concord, North Carolina, went out on his own to Little Blue John Canyon near Salt Lake City in Utah, but fell 10 ft (3 m) down a hole and hurt himself.
With a broken leg and dislocated shoulder, Amos Richards was forced to drag his body through the desert for four days until a search helicopter saw him.
Amos Richards, 64, went out on his own to Little Blue John Canyon, but fell 10 ft (3 m) down a hole and hurt himself
Amos Richards later revealed had only gone to the remote park after watching “127 Hours” in which James Franco players a climber who is forced to amputate his right arm to free himself from a boulder – after falling down a canyon at Little Blue John.
Amos Richards’ version began when he tumbled down the hole and realized the full horror of his situation – his mobile phone was not working and he only had two protein bars to keep him going.
Amos Richards fell 10 ft while hiking in the Maze district's narrow Lower Blue John Canyon,
Amos Richards also realized it would take him days to reach civilization or get back to his car but given nobody knew where he was he had to set off.
The hiker later recalled: “I was just thinking that this may be it, I may not be found.”
As he crawled along the ground Amos Richards filled his water bottles with rain as he painstakingly retraced his steps, eventually dragging himself almost five miles.
Each night Amos Richards had to sleep under the stars with no tent or a cover sheet as temperatures plunged to barely 10 C (50 F).
“I was actually following my GPS, crawling right on top of my feet print that I had hiked in on.”
Rangers at Canyonlands National Park sent out search parties when Amos Richards’ camp site was discovered unattended and two days later they found his car.
On the day four Amos Richards was tracked down by a helicopter and taken to Moab Regional Hospital, where he was treated for leg fractures, internal injuries, trauma and dehydration.
Now Amos Richards is expected to make a full recovery.
“127 Hours”, the 2010 Danny Boyle film was based on the account of climber Aron Ralston who went hiking in Little Blue John Canyon without telling anybody where he was going.
Aron Ralston’s autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place detailed his struggle including the awful moment he had to chop off his arm with a pocket knife or face dying in the desert.
James Franco as mountain climber Aron Ralston in Danny Boyle film 127 Hours
Paul Henderson, the assistant superintendent of Canyonlands, said the incident was “at least the third or fourth time that we’ve had issues at Blue John since the movie.”
Aron Ralston telling about his amazing climbing accident at the Tonight Show
Henderson said about Amos Richards:
“He made some of the very same mistakes that Aron Ralston did.
“He went into a very remote area and nobody knew what his travel plans where.”
Amazon Kindle color tablet, the new iPad rival, will be unveiled tomorrow during a press conference.
Amazon is holding a press conference on Wednesday where it’s widely expected that the giant online retailer will unveil a new color Kindle that puts it on collision course with Apple – a device that could be half the price of iPad 2.
Other tech giants from Motorola to Nokia have tried the same thing, of course – and crashed and burned.
But Amazon is already the world’s largest online retailer – and comes armed with a one-click ordering system that can deliver entertainment from books to films to music with a single button-press.
Other iPad rivals may simply not have been entertaining enough.
Amazon Kindle tablet is rumored to cost a mere $250 - including “free” access to Amazon's Prime film-streaming service
Amazon’s Kindle tablet is rumored to cost a mere $250 – including “free” access to Amazon’s Prime film-streaming service, vastly undercutting Apple’s price.
Amazon Kindle tablet is also more pocketable, at a rumored seven inches.
Analysts suggest that Amazon’s willingness to sell hardware at a loss in order to sell more e-books, films and music will put it in a position to offer the first serious challenge to Apple – whose “core” business is still selling phones, tablets, and iPods.
According to Forrester Research, the US tech industry analysts, Amazon Kindle tablet could be the “only credible iPad competitor” and could even “completely disrupt the status quo”.
Even on iPad, consumers often prefer buying books via Amazon’s Kindle app to Apple’s own less-well-stocked iBooks store.
“Apple sells software and services, but the lion’s share of Apple’s revenue still comes from hardware,” wrote Forrester.
“This makes it vulnerable to a company, such as Amazon, that isn’t seeking profit from hardware sales.”
The tech blog Techcrunch suggested that Amazon Kindle tablet might be called Kindle Fire.
Simon Osborne-Walker, Associate Editor of Britain’s Stuff magazine, said of Amazon Kindle tablet:
“Where other manufacturers have taken on Apple in a tech-spec arms race, Amazon’s all about the content.
“It doesn’t care if it makes a loss on every device it sells; they’re just shop windows and cash registers connecting to the world’s biggest superstore.”
Amazon Kindle is already the company's best-selling product and the colour version is described as the 'first credible rival to iPad 2
Industry insiders have, however, cast doubt on Amazon’s ability to produce an operating system that looks and “feels’ as good as Apple’s, however.
Amazon’s “strength” has always been the technologies that underlie its products – such as the one-click buying system it pioneered, or the “recommendation” system that is now imitated on many other e-commerce sites on the web.
Whether Amazon can produce an experience as slick as Apple’s best-selling iOS remains to be seen.
Analysts still expect Apple to dominate the tablet market for “several years” – at present, Apple controls at least 75% of tablet sales worldwide, despite High Street chains such as Comet selling Android tablets for as little as $300.
Amazon Kindle tablet vs. iPad:
Kindle an Android tablet – but TechCrunch claim to have seen a prototype that adopts Amazon’s orange, black and blue color scheme.
Kindle will have a seven-inch display and will be much more pocketable than iPad.
A bigger, 10-inch version is due, but not before Christmas.
The smaller model of Kindle tablet will cost “around half the price” of the entry-level of iPad 2.
Kindle’s price will include access to Amazon Prime – including a new film-streaming service, and faster deliveries on “real world” Amazon products.
The powerful Typhoon Nesat has struck the Philippines this morning, triggering floods and cutting power in the capital Manila and throughout the main island, Luzon.
Typhoon Nesat also forced the closing of the Philippine Stock Exchange and the US embassy, and the ground floor of Manila’s main hospital was flooded.
At least seven people have been killed, including several children.
Typhoon Nesat path in South East Asia
As Typhoon Nesat approached, the authorities ordered the evacuation of more than 100,000 in central Albay province.
Nesat is expected to continue slowly across the country, before blowing across the South China Sea towards southern China on Thursday.
The typhoon made landfall just before dawn on Tuesday in the eastern Isabela and Aurora provinces on the Pacific coast.
The storm – with a diameter of 650km (400 miles) and wind gusts of up to 170km/h (105mph) – is now making its way across Luzon, the main island.
Many roads have been flooded and flights cancelled, and local media are urging people against non-essential travel.
An adult and three children were crushed to death as a building collapsed in a northern Manila suburb on Tuesday, AFP news agency quoted the Office of Civil Defence as saying.
Two men were said to have died north of the capital in a landslide and weather-induced accident.
There is waist-deep flooding in parts of the capital.
Reporters described huge waves crashing into Manila Bay’s seawall, with water overflowing into Roxas Boulevard and flooding streets and parks around the US embassy, which was evacuated.
The ground floor of Manila hospital was flooded, and staff was forced to move patients to the first floor.
“We’ve heard of Manila Hospital being flooded, but we’re struggling to reach the area even though we’ve co-ordinated with them already to help in an evacuation plan,” Philippine National Red Cross secretary general Gwen Pang told AFP.
It was reported that a five-star hotel was also evacuated.
Thousands of residents living inland along the Marikana river were evacuated as it threatened to overflow.
Government offices, schools and universities were closed.
In Isabela province, four coastal towns under threat from storm surges have been evacuated.
Four fishermen are missing, and more than 50 more have been rescued after their boats capsized in rough seas.
There are fears that the death toll may rise further.
Late on Monday, the first reported casualty of Typhoon Nesat was a baby who fell into a swollen river in the eastern province of Catanduanes.
Earlier, about 110,000 people in several towns of the Albay province were ordered to leave their homes and seek shelter elsewhere.
“We can’t manage typhoons, but we can manage their effects,” provincial Governor Joey Salceda was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
The Philippines suffers frequent typhoons, about 20 a year, but Nesat is thought to be the largest this year.
Typhoon Nesat comes almost exactly two years after Typhoon Ketsana killed more than 400 people.
A group of six British-born Muslims who allegedly planned to commit “mass murder” with suicide bombing missions against Britain appeared in court on Monday.
The six men, who prosecutors claimed had formed a terror cell, are accused of training in explosives, weapons and poisoning techniques during trips to Pakistan.
Some of the group members are accused of raising money for terrorism during collections on British streets.
The six men who are accused of training in explosives, weapons and poisoning techniques: from left, Mohammed Rizwan, Bahader Ali, Ifran Nasser, Rahin Ahmed, Ifran Khalid and Ashik Ali
The six defendants, who are all from Birmingham and aged from 25 to 32, were arrested a week ago by the West Midlands police counter-terrorism unit.
The six men, each wearing black jumpers and jogging bottoms, spoke only to confirm their names, ages and addresses at the hearing in West London Magistrates’ Court, Hammersmith.
Deborah Walsh, prosecuting, said: “The terrorist ideology behind these offences is to commit mass murder in the UK.”
Two of the group – Ifran Nasser, 30, and Ifran Khalid, 26 – have been charged with a string of offences dating from Christmas Day last year to September 19.
They are accused of planning a suicide-bombing campaign, making a martyrdom film, recruiting others for terrorist acts, collecting money for terrorism, travelling to Pakistan to learn how to make bombs, weapons and poisons, and advising others on explosives and how to build a home-made bomb.
Ashik Ali, 26, is accused of planning a suicide bombing, constructing a home-made bomb, recruiting others for terrorist training, collecting money for terrorism and stating his intention to be a suicide bomber.
His brother, university graduate Bahader Ali, 28, and Mohammed Rizwan, 32, are accused of failing to disclose information which could prevent terror attacks.
Rahin Ahmed, 25, is accused of helping to fund terrorism acts and assisting others to travel to Pakistan for training in terrorism.
All were remanded in custody. Ashik Ali, Rahin Ahmed, Khalid and Nasser Ifran will appear at the Old Bailey on October 21.
Bahader Ali and Mohammed Rizwan will appear before City of Westminster magistrates on October 24.
Reports from several suppliers in Asia said that Apple has reduced its orders by 25% in the last quarter for this year, according to JP Morgan Chase.
Apple has enjoyed global success and market domination with its pioneering tablet computer, iPad.
Shares in Apple Inc fells as much as 3% in early trading today after an analyst claimed Apple was cutting orders from suppliers of parts for its iPad tablet.
The development could indicate a potential slow-down in sales of the successful iPad.
Shares in Apple Inc fells as much as 3 per cent in early trading today after an analyst claimed Apple was cutting orders from suppliers of parts for iPad
“Our understanding is that this is not in preparation for a new model launch.”
Gokul Hariharan also said the move could result in slower sales for suppliers such as Hon Hai Precision Co.
Fear of a slowdown in iPad sales come as rival Amazon is expected to unveil its own tablet device on Wednesday, to rival Apple.
Amazon’s tablet, which is expected to go on sale on Wednesday, has already been described as a “game changer” by one analyst which could challenge the iPad.
Shares in Apple recovered slightly from earlier losses and were down by $4 (1%) at $400.28 in mid-morning trading on Nasdaq.
JP Morgan’s Asia Pacific electronic manufacturing services analyst also said that Mark Moskowitz – JP Morgan’s U.S.-based Apple analyst – does not expect the supply chain adjustments to result in a downside to his estimates for iPad shipments.
Other analysts also said they would not change their iPad shipment estimates and that it would be difficult to accurately estimate shipment orders.
Colin Gillis, analyst for BGC Partners, said:
“The iPhone 5 launch is much more important than the iPad right now.
“Could the tablet market slow down? Yes absolutely, but data from factories is notoriously unreliable especially since Apple started diversifying their supplier base.”
Walter Piecyk, an analyst from BTIG, said he would be maintaining his forecasts of Apple selling 13 million iPads in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t see any reason to change our estimates. We expect that iPad and iPhone production is shifting to Brazil and Apple remains the market leader that it created with the iPad.”
The rumor that Facebook would begin charging its users with a subscription fee is not true, Facebook has assured.
On Sunday, an online rumor that Facebook was going to begin charging as much as $10 per month starting Monday prompted widespread digital panic.
The pseudo Facebook announcement was written in all capital letters and spread around the social network by gullible users.
The announcement read:
“FACEBOOK JUST RELEASED THEIR PRICE GRID FOR MEMBERSHIP,$9.99 PER MONTH FOR GOLD MEMBER SERVICES,$6.99 PER MONTH FOR SILVER MEMBER SERVICES,$3.99 PER MONTH FOR BRONZE MEMBER SERVICES, FREE IF YOU COPY AND PASTE THIS MESSAGE BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. WHEN YOU SIGN ON TOMORROW MORNING YOU WILL BE PROMPTED FOR PAYMENT INFO.”
The Facebook charging most recent rumor began just days after Facebook's facelift last week
By late Sunday, the Facebook powers that be caught wind of the rumor and shut it down on the official Facebook Facebook page:
“A rumor on the internet caught our attention. We have no plans to charge for Facebook. It’s free and always will be,” read the Facebook post by Facebook.
This most recent hoax began just days after Facebook’s facelift last week. The site now features a Ticker, it groups categories of friends together to allow for more detailed tracking, newly added photographs appear larger, and the “Poke” button is now concealed. A timeline is also slated to be available within the next few weeks.
Facebook certainly does not need to boost its revenue – especially at the risk of alienating its most powerful tool for generating revenue: Its 800 million active users.
In the first half of 2011, Facebook doubled its profits. With zero subscription-based revenue, the company is still worth $75.3 billion – seven times higher than Twitter’s $10.7 billion implied value, according to Sharespost, a service tracking private companies.
Facebook is the second most popular Web site after Google, and its advertising revenue is expected to reach $4.27 billion in 2011, according to ZDNet.
Because Facebook makes so much of its revenue from advertising, its users are essentially its products – not its customers. The real Facebook customers are the companies who advertise on the site, and they are paying a hefty premium to do so.
Facebook has absolutely no incentive to charge a subscription fee. People may not be able to believe all the promises that Facebook makes – especially about user privacy and security – but they can trust the latest statement that Facebook will always be free of charge.
Rumors about a potential Facebook fee have been circulating since 2009.
Shawn Sullivan, the convicted child molester who is one of US most wanted paedophile has been caught secretly living in London.
Shawn Sullivan has been wanted in the U.S. since 1994 for allegedly molesting two 11-year-old girls and for having sex with an unconscious 14-year-old girl.
Shawn Sullivan has been wanted in the U.S. since 1994 for allegedly molesting three girls
Shawn Sullivan, 42, was finally picked up by the London Metropolitan Police last year in England.
In December 2010, Sullivan was granted bail and must wear an electronic tag and abide by a strict curfew. Shawn Sullivan lives near Barnes in South-West London.
Minnesota wants Shawn Sullivan extradited to face charges.
If he is found guilty, Shawn Sullivan could face up to 75 years in prison, according to The Sun newspaper.
Shawn Sullivan had gone years without showing on the radar as a fugitive from the U.S. government. During this time he lived in Ireland and was given a suspended jail sentence there for sexually attacking two 12-year-old girls.
Shawn Sullivan married an Irish woman in 1996.
It was not until 2007 that Interpol, the international police organization, added Shawn Sullivan to its most wanted list.
Shawn Sullivan moved to England in 2010 on an Irish passport and arrived undetected using the Gaelic spelling surname O’Suilleabhain.
U.S. Marshals Service investigators worked with authorities in Ireland, Spain, Switzerland and the UK to locate Shawn Sullivan, who is originally from Fort Benning, Georgia.
The Home Office confirmed Shawn Sullivan’s extradition was ordered in February but it is being contested by the convicted paedophile.
A spokesman said: ”On Thursday 10 February the Secretary of State signed an order for Shawn Sullivan’s extradition to the United States of America.
“Mr. Sullivan has appeal to the High Court against the decisions of the District Judge and the Secretary of State; this is therefore a matter for the courts.”
Thousands of people took to the streets of Salt Lake City in their underwear yesterday for the “Utah Undie Run” annual event to support gay rights and other causes.
Wearing just boxers, panties and bras, are the crowds of people said they were not just hoping to break records, but they were there to break stereotypes.
3,000 people run through the streets of Salt Lake City in their underwear at Utah Undie Run to protest against Utah “being so uptight”
Salt Lake City is the home of the Mormon church, which is a vocal opponent of gay marriage and a bastion of conservatism.
Utah Undie Run: Many of the runners were protesting about gay rights
“My goal is to change Utah. To make this state lighten up once and for all,” run organizer Nate Porter told Fox 13.
“I’m trying to draw people in that are jaded by politics.”
The “Utah Undie Run” annual event encouraged people to paint their naked torsos with messages about gay rights and other causes.
Utah Undie Run organizers told runners to paint political messages on their bodies
“We’ve all heard it for years, Utah is boring, Utahans are uptight… well it’s time to change all that, at least for a night,” the group wrote on its website.
According to organizers, they wanted the state, which tightened up its liquor laws earlier this month, to loosen up.
Utah Undie Run is set to enter the Guinness Book of Records if the run is verified
The Utah Undie Run is also set to enter the Guinness Book of Records if the run is verified.
Organizers estimate that 3,000 people turned up in their underwear, beating the previous record of 55.
Samsung Galaxy Skin has demonstrated bendable AMOLED screens 4.5 inches across and just 0.3mm thick in January 2011.
Reports this week hint that Samsung Galaxy Skin using the technology – which can be “rolled up” and survive hammer blows – will appear in the second quarter of 2012.
The new Samsung Galaxy Skin technology relies on atom-thick layers of “graphene” – sheets of carbon atoms – sandwiched together, protecting a layer of liquid crystal “screen”.
Samsung Galaxy Skin phone is so flexible you can roll it up
Earlier this year, reports leaked that Samsung had the capacity to manufacture large amounts of the screen by “early 2012” – but no one knew what they might be for.
Samsung later released pictures of a concept phone using the technology – the Galaxy Skin.
The phone would be no mere novelty.
Phones using Graphene screens would be practically unbreakable, and offer an instant advantage over every other smartphone on the market.
Layers of Graphene - atom-thick layers of carbon - are used to create paper-thin foldable screens in the Samsung Galaxy Skin
Now, according to reports in the International Business Times, Samsung Galaxy Skin could be on sale next year.
The report was remarkably specific, stating that Samsung Galaxy Skin handset would offer specifications including a high-resolution 800×480 flexible AMOLED screen, eight megapixel camera and 1Gb of RAM as well as a 1.2GHz processor.
Those specifications sound suspiciously similar to the spec of Samsung’s current flagship, the Galaxy S II, however.
Will Findlater, editor of Stuff magazine said:
“AMOLED is already the mobile screen technology to beat, so if it’s as good as promised, flexible AMOLED could put an end to smashed smartphone displays – and tablets, which are even more fragile.”
“The potential for tablets that can fold to the size of a smartphone is especially exciting – you could have two gadgets for the price of one,” says Will Findlater.
The producer has made no official announcement regarding Samsung Galaxy Skin, and while they definitely can manufacture the technology – it was freely on show earlier this year – the gulf between that and a working phone ready to go into mass production is huge.
Samsung Galaxy Skin could be on sale as early as Spring 2012
Flexible screens have been demonstrated in various forms since as early as 2004 – with tech insiders suggesting that laptops or e-Book readers might one day take the form of a pen housing a processor with a sheet of paper-like screen wrapped around them.
Other ideas have included using tiny, flexible screens like electronic Post-it notes.
Romanian Youth Orchestra with Christian Mandeal and violin soloist David Garrett performed on September 23, during the last week of one of the biggest classical music event in Europe, George Enescu Festival 2011.
George Enescu Festival 2011 is the 20th edition of an biennial event that honors the Romanian composer’s legacy. This year it started on September 1 and ended on September 25.
David Garrett, World’s Fastest Violinist (2008), has walked through Bucharest from his hotel to Grand Palace Hall, with no bodyguards, accompanied only by his manager and an organizers’ representative. He was carrying his violin on his back, the A. Busch Stradivarius (1716), which he has played since 2009.
David Garrett played Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal at George Enescu Festival 2011
Carrying his valuable instrument over his shoulder has been a habit for the violinist. In 2003 David Garrett got an $1 million ex Baron Von Gause violin, created in 1770 by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, emiliano luthier. In 2008 David Garrett felt when he was leaving London’s Barbican Hall after a performance. He was carrying his 18th century violin. “I had it over my shoulder in its case and I fell down a concrete flight of stairs backward. When I opened the case, much of my G.B. Guadagnini had been crushed.” He said.
David Garrett entered the Grand Palace Hall wearing boots, jeans with golden little chains and having a kind of bun-bow-tie-tail of his blond hair.
The Romanian Youth Orchestra conducted by Christian Mandeal rendered an exciting performance of George Enescu‘s Rhapsody no.1, followed by applause and cheers, then David Garrett appeared on the stage joyfully welcomed. Concerto for violin and orchestra (Beethoven), Firebird (Stravinsky), La Valse (Ravel) were performed. David gave an emotional and natural interpretation, showing in the same time he can play 13 notes per second, the record he established in 2008, when he played Hummelflug (The flight of the Bumble Bee) by Rimsky-Korsakow in 66.56 seconds.
David Garrett World's Fastest Violinist plays "A. Busch” Stradivarius (1716) since 2009
He wiped his sweat, smiled seductively, accepted and offered flowers. David is a former model who has been called the David Beckham of the classical scene. The audience cried “Encore!” and David Garrett pleased them a lot. He even performed some Michael Jackson’s hits and made the attendees to go on their feet.
During the pause he gave autographs, signing CDs, DVDs or tickets from hundreds enthusiastic fans, especially women.
The public of George Enescu Festival 2011 cried "Encore!" after David Garrett, the David Beckham of the classical scene, performed.
David Garrett, 31, German/American classical violinist, got his first violin at age four and made his first appearance with the Hamburger Philharmoniker under the direction of Gerd Albrecht when he was ten.
David was born in Aachen, Germany, and now he lives in New York. When he was 13, David gave a concert in the residence of the Federal Republic of Germany President, the Villa Hammerschmidt, at Dr. von Weizsäcker’s personal invitation. He was offered use of the famous Stradivarius San Lorenzo. Garrett signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft at age 14 as the youngest soloist ever. In 1997 David performed with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta in Delhi and Mumbai in for the 50th anniversary of India’s Independence.
On the occasion of the 60 years of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2009 he was invited by the chancellor Angela Merkel to attend the celebration.
In 2011 he received two ECHO awards for his Rock Symphonies. The DVD David Garrett: Rock Symphonies – Open Air Live was distinguished in the category Best Domestic DVD Production and as Best Artist in the category Rock/Pop Domestic.
David Garrett Legacy, the new classical album, will be released on 4th November 2011 and features Beethoven Violin concerto and works of Fritz Kreisler. David recorded the album in the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Ion Marin. The album is available for pre-order on Amazon.de
David Garrett is Honorary Judge in the category violin at the “International Music Competition Cologne”, which takes place from September 22 to October 2 and is hosted by the Conservatory of Music Cologne.
This year David Garrett played in Sweden at 34th Birthday of Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, Duchess of Västergötland, and he attended Verbier Festival 2011 in Switzerland.
David Garrett at George Enescu Festival 2011 (video)
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David Garrett plays Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal at George Enescu Festival 2011 (video)
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David Garrett Legacy trailer (video)
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David Garrett set new violin world speed record in 2008, playing Flight of the Bumblebee in 66.56 seconds. In 2010 UK rock violinist Ben Lee, 33, of electric violin duo Fuse, played Flight of the Bumblebee on £1M Swarovski Crystal Bridge violin in 58.515 seconds. This month Ben Lee, who sings with Linzi Stoppard, has insured his fingers and his hands for £3million.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner has a range of 10,000 miles, is far quieter than ordinary jets, and is constructed using a “moulding” process that has eliminated 1,500 aluminum sheets and 50,000 fasteners.
The much-delayed Boeing 787 Dreamliner is also three years late and has cost a reported $32 billion.
Aluminium has been the standard material used in aircraft for more than a century – even the Wright brothers’ famous first flight in 1903 used an aircraft made partially from the metal.
Now the “aluminium age” could be about to end – with the delivery of the first large-scale commercial aircraft made using 50% “composite materials” including plastics and carbon fibre.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner has a range of 10,000 miles, is far quieter than ordinary jets, and is constructed using a “moulding” process that has eliminated 1,500 aluminum sheets and 50,000 fasteners
Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner programme, said:
“It took a lot of hard work to get to this day.”
Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been much delayed – its maiden flight was delayed for more than two years – and will cost up to $200 million. The delays are reported to have cost maker Boeing more than $32 billion.
The new aircraft offers hi-tech entertainment with Android touchscreens built into every seat – even in Economy. The “composite” design – using mixed materials such as titanium and carbon fibre – is believed to have been a spur for rival Airbus to incorporate carbon fibre in future aircraft.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner seats 250-290 and offers increased comfort - the air inside is less dry than comparable jets, and First Class passengers will enjoy entertainment on 17-inch touchscreens
Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a blue and white-painted long-range aircraft, which boasts a graceful new design with raked wingtips and will leave for Japan on Tuesday and enter service domestically on October 26.
Boeing has taken orders for 821 Dreamliners, which will compete with the future Airbus A350, due in 2013.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) is the first airline to take delivery of Boeing 787 Dreamliner - the first large-scale commercial jetliner to be built from composite materials, not aluminium
“It is simpler than today’s aeroplanes and offers increased functionality and efficiency,” says Boeing’s official description of the plane.
“The team has incorporated airplane health-monitoring systems that allow the airplane to self-monitor and report systems maintenance requirements to ground-based computer systems by itself.”
“You can tell the Dreamliner is special the moment you see it coming in to land,” says Jonathan Margolis, a technology specialist who saw one of its first test flights.
“The near silence is almost spooky. But the thing which struck me most when I saw it at the Farnborough Air Show was the obvious suppleness of the composite structure. You can clearly see the wings flexing. It almost looks like an Airfix kit.”
“Speaking to the pilot later, he confirmed that as a result of its ultra-light airframe, the 787 is exceptionally manoeuvrable and easy to fly precisely.”
Boeing abandoned plans for a sound barrier-chasing “Sonic Cruiser” 10 years ago and worked on lighter long-range jets as cash-starved airlines valued efficiency over speed. The comapny expects 787 Dreamliner to become the standard for future passenger planes.
Mike Sinnett, the 787 Dreamliner program’s chief project engineer, said:
“Technology will only get more efficient and lighter.
“The plane’s lighter weight allows airlines to operate routes even when the demand is insufficient for larger aircraft like the Boeing 777 or 747, or the Airbus 380 superjumbo.”
Scott Fancher added: “For aviation we believe this is as important as the 707 was with the introduction of the jet age.”
Fancher moved to head off any fears over the new materials, stressing the tough moulded composites used to create the aircraft were nothing like ordinary plastic.
“Plastic is what you have on the dashboard of your car. This is not plastic,” he told reporters.
One of the components that gives Boeing 787 Dreamliner its extraordinary range and fuel economy - 20 per cent less than other equivalent aircraft - are its engines, hi-tech new models made by Rolls Royce
Boeing 787 Dreamliner development program has been delayed seven times due to challenges with engineering, supply chain glitches and a 58-day labor strike in 2008.
“We have been waiting for the 787 for over 3 years as we expected it in the summer of 2008,” said senior vice president Satoru Fujiki who took part in negotiations to buy the 787.
“I can’t say the delayed delivery didn’t have any impact but ANA and Boeing worked closely to mitigate it,” Fujiki said, adding Boeing had provided alternative jets to meet the shortfall.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) has ordered a total of 55 Dreamliners worth $11 billion at current list prices, including 40 of the 260-passenger 787-8 variant being delivered this week.
ANA plans to take delivery of four planes in 2011 and an additional eight next year.
The Seattle Times reported on Sunday that Boeing 787 program costs had topped $32 billion due to delays. That estimate raised questions, the newspaper said, over whether the new jet would make money for Boeing before “well into the 2020s, if ever.” Boeing declined comment on the claims.
Analysts say new jets typically cost closer to $15 billion.
Boeing also faces Wall Street concerns over its ability to reach its target of lifting output to 10 planes a month by 2013.
The delivery comes as Boeing remains locked in a dispute with one of its top labor unions in Washington state, where it has traditionally built its aircraft.
The International Association of Machinists and the National Labor Relations Board accuse Boeing of building a non-union 787 plant in South Carolina to punish the IAM for past strikes.
Boeing denies that claim, saying the jobs in South Carolina represent new employment, not the relocation of existing work.
Siraj Yassin Abdullah Ali, the fanatical terrorist has escaped being thrown out of the UK because it would breach his human rights.
Siraj Yassin Abdullah Ali, graded the highest possible risk to the public, was released after serving just half of his nine-year sentence for helping the July 21 bombers.
The terrorist now mingles freely among the Londoners his co-plotters tried to kill six years ago.
The UK Government officials are desperate to deport the Islamic fundamentalist back to his native Eritrea but have been told they cannot because he could face “inhumane treatment or punishment”.
Siraj Yassin Abdullah Ali was convicted of helping a gang of five Al Qaeda suicide bombers in their bid to repeat the carnage of the attacks of July 7, 2005, two weeks later.
Siraj Yassin Abdullah Ali walking free on London streets.
Graham Foulkes, whose 22-year-old son David was killed on July 7, said:
“These people were plotting to commit mass murder – what about the human rights of victims and families?
“These people had no consideration for the women and children they were trying to kill. How can they claim we should look after and support them?”
The case is the latest to highlight how human rights laws have left the authorities powerless to remove some terrorists and convicted criminals.
Imposed by unaccountable European judges, they place the rights of the most dangerous wrongdoers above the risks faced by ordinary people.
The five would-be suicide bombers were jailed for life after trying to detonate bombs at Shepherd’s Bush, Warren Street and Oval Tube stations and on a bus in Shoreditch.
Siraj Yassin Abdullah Ali, 35, knew about the potentially murderous July 21 conspiracy and helped the fanatics clear up their explosives factory.
The terrorist was jailed for 12 years in February 2008 for aiding and abetting the Al Qaeda cell. Judge Paul Worsley QC said he must have “harboured the hope” the bombers would “destroy society as we know it”.
The sentence was reduced to nine years on appeal and after time Siraj Yassin Abdullah Ali spent in jail while awaiting trial was taken into account, he was automatically released on licence several weeks ago. The terrorist is now living at a bail hostel on a leafy residential street in north-west London. He has been seen travelling on the Tube and catching buses.
With music headphones plugged into his ears and a bag slung casually across his shoulder, he appeared to be caught on camera chatting on a mobile phone.
It is understood that Siraj Yassin Abdullah Ali is being monitored around the clock and must obey a curfew and other conditions, including a ban on using the internet.
Ali is the second high-risk terrorist linked to the July 21 attacks to win the right to remain in the UK on human rights grounds in recent weeks.
Terrorist Siraj Yassin Abdullah Ali is using public transport in London
Ismail Abdurahman, 28, who hid would-be bomber Hussain Osman for three days, escaped being deported to his native Somalia after judges feared for his safety. Ismail Abdurahman is also living at a bail hostel in London despite the protests of police and Home Office officials.
The release of Ali and Abdurahman underlines the challenges faced by police, probation and MI5. There are fears that they will be stretched to the limit as they try to monitor dozens of freed fanatics in the run-up to the Olympics next year.
Research by one think-tank found that more than 230 people have been convicted of terrorist offences since 2001, but only around 100 remain in prison.
Under Article 3 of both the European Convention on Human Rights, and Labour’s Human Rights Act, individuals are protected against torture, inhuman or degrading treatment.
The clause allows foreign terror suspects to fight deportation on the grounds that they would be tortured in their home countries if returned.
Tory MP Priti Patel said: ‘This is yet another example of how we have got to abolish this appalling human rights legislation that allows terrorists and violent criminals to waltz out of prison and stay in our country.
“They should be deported instantly back to where they came from.”
Solicitor Cliff Tibber, who represents the families of several July 7 victims, said: “There is no doubt it is uncomfortable for the families to see someone like this back on the streets after what feels like an extremely short period of time.”
A UK Border Agency spokesman said: “We will do everything we can to remove this individual from the UK and are extremely disappointed by the court’s decision to grant bail, which we vigorously opposed.
“In the meantime, we are working closely with public protection agencies to ensure that appropriate monitoring is in place.”
An UK Ministry of Justice spokesman insisted that public protection remains “top priority” and that serious offenders face “strict” controls and conditions.
Connie Culp was the first person to receive a face transplant in the U.S in 2008, after her top lip, nose, roof of her mouth, one eye and both cheeks were destroyed by then husband Tom Culp, who brutally shot her in the face after flying into a rage.
Now, Connie Culp, 48, from Ohio, has bravely decided to talk about the domestic abuse and terrible shooting she endured at the hands of the man she says she still loves.
Her decision to speak out comes as her 52 year-old husband was last week released from prison after serving just seven years for the horrific crime.
Connie Culp was the first person to receive a face transplant in the U.S in 2008, after her top lip, nose, roof of her mouth, one eye and both cheeks were destroyed by then husband Tom Culp, who brutally shot her in the face after flying into a rage
Describing the moment her life changed forever, Connie Culp said:
“I remember everything. That’s what the doctors can’t believe.
“I remember him lifting the gun, and what he said to me, and then firing.
“It’s an image that will never leave me, for the rest of my life. It’s the moment everything changed forever.”
As well as suffering horrific facial disfigurement, Connie Culp was also left almost totally blind in the 2004 attack at the bar in Hopedale, Ohio, which the couple owned and ran together.
The signs, she says, were there before Tom Culp attempted to take her life.
“He only hit me a couple of times ever. It was the bullying that was worse. “Maybe it was a warning for things to come, but I never imagined what eventually happened was even possible.”
But, despite everything her ex-husband has done, Connie Culp says she still loves him.
“I’ll probably always love him because he’s the father of my kids,” admitted Connie Culp, who has two children with Tom.
“But I can’t handle being around him.”
She recently returned to the bar for the first time in eight years since that awful night when Tom Culp snapped.
“He was jealous because everyone seemed to like me so much,” Connie Culp revealed.
“It wasn’t really men. I was popular with the girls who worked with us and most of the customers.
“I think it just used to make him jealous. And money was tight with the bar. We owned it together and it used to put a strain on us.
“Sometimes he used to break things in the house when he’d get mad. Sometimes my things, like a trophy I’d won in a karate tournament.
“And then that night something just snapped. We were at the bar and he was mad. Then he just got his shotgun and shot me.”
It’s important to Connie Culp to appear like she’s coping.
“It’s the way I keep going,” she said.
“I don’t want people to feel sorry for me. I want to be treated the same as I was my whole life, before the shooting.
“If I dwell on the past I’ll have no life to live.”
After shooting his wife, Tom Culp put the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger causing severe injuries to himself. But, like Connie, he survived.
“It was all just a waste,” Connie Culp said.
“He’s never acknowledged what he did. He just blames it on everyone else.”
After the shooting in September 2004, Connie Culp spent months in hospital as surgeons repeatedly tried to fix the damage caused by the gun blast.
Connie Culp before the horrific attack in 2004Connie Culp before face transplant in 2008
Connie Culp after face transplant in 2011
With her children Steven, 30, and Alicia, 28 at her side, Connie Culp battled on, always taking comfort in the miracle that she had survived.
Connie Culp even visited her husband in prison to comfort him. But despite her unshakable determination to forgive, the events had changed things forever.
“I knew then it was over,” she said.
“I haven’t shaken that badly since he shot me. I can drink four pots of coffee and not shake. But around him I couldn’t control it.”
Chillingly, Tom Culp even got angry with the mother of his children for telling the truth to the police about the shooting.
“Tom said: <<I wouldn’t have told on you>> and I said <<I wouldn’t have shot you>>,” Connie Culp said.
“He’s mad because I make jokes about it,” she added. “How do you think I’m going to get through this?”
Anxious about her husband potential release this month, Connie Culp finally made their divorce official in May and moved out of the home they shared in Bloomingdale, Ohio, in her bid to move on.
“He’ll probably move back into the old house,” Connie Culp said.
“His family still own it. He has a restraining order but nobody knows what he’ll do.
“We’ll just have to wait and see.”
As well as her husband, Connie Culp also had to endure children reacting to her damaged face with horror.
“Children would say I was a monster,” she said.
“They didn’t mean anything by it. They were just being kids, but it made me feel worried.
“I got through it by just trying to look at the brighter side of things. I was alive, and I had my children and grandchildren.”
After all she had been through, Connie Culp was eventually put on the face transplant waiting list in October 2008 at the highly prestigious Cleveland Clinic, Ohio.
Dr. Chad Gordon, one of eight surgeons involved in the procedure, said:
“The problems were that we needed a deceased woman from the local area, so that we could get the donor’s face to Connie.
“We needed someone from her age group and of the same blood type, and one who was registered as a donor.
‘In the U.S., not many people sign to be donors, so the odds of finding a match were always slim.”
But on December 10, 2008, just two months later, the team were shocked when they found a match.
A local woman – whose family Connie Culp has now met – had died from a heart attack. It was a chance of giving Connie what she had waited more than four years for.
Calling her to tell her to race to the clinic, Dr. Chad Gordon reminded Connie Culp the procedure could end her life.
“I already had one miracle by surviving the shooting,” Connie Culp said.
“So I thought someone up there might have another one for me.”
The medical team, led by top surgeon Dr. Maria Siemionow at the Cleveland Clinicbattled for over 20 hours to attach her new face.
Doctors hollowed out the damaged section of her face before replacing it with the donor’s which they harvested using a hand-drawn template and plastic model of Connie Culp’s face to guide them.
This entire bone segment – with the donor’s face attached – was raised in one large piece and included both cheek bones, a new upper jaw, a new palate, portions of both orbits, and some donor teeth.
While the transplant has improved things, Connie Culp knows her serious medical battle will last the rest of her life.
“Everyone assumes you’re better and forgets about it after the transplant. I hope to show the world that this isn’t the case for people like me.
“You still have to fight and live with the memories of why you needed one every day.”
A nurse visits Connie Culp three times a week to check her health and make sure her body isn’t rejecting her new face.
Each day Connie Culp also takes a cocktail of prescription drugs to help her body cope.
With a tiny amount of sight left in her left eye, she struggles to see and finds it hard to do most daily tasks alone.
But Connie Culp has a number of techno gadgets to get by.
“A talking pill box in my bedroom tells me when it’s time to take my medicine and dispenses the right doses,” she said.
“My talking alarm clock lets me know what the time is every hour, and a clothes scanner tells me what colours my outfits are, so I don’t mismatch.
“Otherwise I’d be going out with odd socks on.”
Connie Culp also walks with a cane, while her local shopkeepers help her to choose the right brands of food.
A document magnifier helps Connie Culp to see her old family photographs of happier times, and read letters and bills.
And after taking her medicine each day, Connie Culp carefully applies her makeup, staring at her reflection in her bathroom mirror.
“Now I can go out and hold my head up high. It’s improved my looks so much. It’s hard for me to see exactly what I look like because I can see only shapes really, with no definition.
“I know it’s not my face, but I feel thankful that I have one now.”
Connie Culp enjoys a new love of life, playing with 4 year-old grandson Maddox, and spending time with her children Steven and Alicia, who helps with work around the house.
The attack and face transplant has given Connie Culp a new love of life and she enjoys playing with her grandson Maddox, with help from daughter Alicia
Connie Culp regularly tries one of the exercises she needs to perform to keep her face adapting.
“I hold a toothbrush between for my lips for as long as I can but I can only do a few seconds.”
“It’s the little things that are my goals. I want to be able to drink a milkshake through a straw again. But I haven’t got enough strength.
“Smiling is also tough. I can do angry when Maddox is being naughty, but I want him to see me smile too. That’s another goal.
“They say it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile, so I don’t know why so many people walk around frowning all the time. They should just smile because it’s less work.”
Connie Culp’s other goals have involved helping others. She attends conventions as an ambassador and promotes organ donation, which made her life bearable again.
“If my work can raise the number of donors and get transplant for others, then that would be a good thing.”
Connie Culp’s fighting spirit has earned her admiration from around the world.
“I was given a miracle when I survived the shooting,”she said. ” Then I got a second miracle when I survived the face transplant.”
“It’s still tough, but my life is so much better now.”
Arch West, the creator of US most popular snacks, the corn chips Doritos, has died on September 20 of natural causes at the age of 97.
Arch West’s family is to bury dozens of Doritos chips next to his ashes, relatives have revealed.
Relatives of Arch West said that they would scatter Doritos in the grave before placing the urn containing his remains inside and covering it over with dirt.
It is not clear if the family is following Arch West’s last requests or if they took it upon themselves to make the “tribute”.
But the intent appears to be to honor the man who created Doritos, which became almost overnight one of the most popular snacks in the U.S.
Arch West, creator of the Doritos corn chip, died on September 20 at 97
It was back in 1961 that Arch West was on a family holiday in San Diego when he was struck by the tasty fried tortilla chips he tried at a food truck.
Arch West came up with the idea for a new snack which he called “Dorito” as it sounded like “doradito”, or “little golden” in Spanish.
The marketing executive at Frito-Lay, the U.S. snack food giant where he worked, was initially unsure but the product was an immediate success following its launch in 1964.
Now Arch West’s family are turning to the thing that he created in an attempt to honor his life.
Arch West’s daughter Jana Hacker said:
“We are tossing Doritos chips in before they put the dirt over the urn.
“He’ll love it.”
Born in Indianapolis, Arch West was put in a Masonic home after his father died and his mother was unable to cope.
Arch West first career job was as a cheese salesman but he gave that up to join the Navy in 1943 and serve as a gunnery officer.
After World War II ended Arch West returned to marketing and while at Frito-Lay came up with the idea for Doritos.
The company’s first television commercial for Doritos showed teenagers playing guitars as the announcer said:
“What’s the biggest news since the Big Beat? Doritos are a swinging, Latin sort of snack.”
Doritos, the Arch West’s creation was the first national tortilla chip brand in the U.S. and is now amongst the most well-known brands in the world.
But the Doritos story has not always been a success – in 2003 the company was sued by American Charles Grady who said the shape of the chip cut his throat, although the lawsuit did not succeed.
The year before Frito-Lay had removed all the trans- fat from Doritos in an attempt to bat off criticism they are unhealthy.
Arch West’s funeral will take place on October 1 in Dallas, Texas.
Arch West’s wife died last year but he is survived by three sons, 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Doritos, the Arch West's creation was the first national tortilla chip brand in the U.S. and is now amongst the most well-known brands in the world
History of Doritos, the first tortilla chip:
• Arch West was on holiday in San Diego in 1961 when he was struck by the tasty fried tortilla chips he tried at a food truck
• He came up with the idea for a new snack which he called ‘Dorito’ as it sounded like ‘doradito’, or ‘little golden’ in Spanish
• The first national tortilla chip brand in the U.S. was an instant hit when it launched in 1964 by Frito-Lay
• The company’s first television commercial for Doritos showed teenagers playing guitars as the announcer said: ‘What’s the biggest news since the Big Beat? Doritos are a swinging, Latin sort of snack.’
• In 2002, Frito-Lay removed all the trans fat from Doritos in an attempt to bat off criticism they are unhealthy
• In 2003 the company was sued by American Charles Grady who said the shape of the chip cut his throat, although the lawsuit did not succeed
The new British Airways campaign cost £20 million ($30 million) and was supposed to usher in a new, mistake-free era.
But British Airways found a rival Virgin Atlantic plane in the company’s new TV advert, “Aviators”.
Luckily an eagle-eyed BA engineer spotted the error during a screening of the film to thousands of staff just a day before its official launch.
British Airways’ advertising agency, BBH, were then called upon to make an emergency edit to ensure the 90-second ad, which charts the history of the company, was corrected.
British Airways found a rival Virgin Atlantic plane in the company's new TV advert, “Aviators”
The offending clip showed a row of three British Airways Boeing 747s sitting on the tarmac. The closest displays the serial code G-VGAL, the marking for a Virgin Atlantic plane based in Manchester.
According to Sunday Mirror, the film’s CGI experts had put British Airways’ livery on the Virgin plane, but had forgotten to remove it.
By the time the ad was unveiled to the media and screened on television the Virgin code had been replaced with the correct British Airways markings.
A British Airways source told Sunday Mirror:
“The mistake was highly embarrassing – especially as Virgin Atlantic is BA’s prime competitor.
“Great pride had been taken in the detail of the advert, and the fact that so much money had been spent on it.
“Thanks to the quick thinking of one of the engineers they saved the blushes of all the senior management at BA, as well the advertising company.”
Before the blunder was spotted British Airways officials had lavished praise on the advert’s director Frederic Planchon on the company’s Facebook page.
Ironically the BA offcials wrote: “His (Planchon’s) attention to detail is second to none.”
A British Airways spokesman told the Sunday Mirror:
“The ad is complex and richly detailed, and its production involved an extensive editing process.
“This process had not been ¬completed by the time we needed to send preview DVDs to our workforce.”
